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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28925673">Heart Sick</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideywhiteys/pseuds/spideywhiteys'>spideywhiteys</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>365 Days of Naruto AUs [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fugaku is awkward but trying, Gen, Hanahaki AU, Hanahaki Disease, Mikoto is mentioned, ambigious universe, could be an alternate universe entirely, could be perceived as early canon, iruka’s crush is left up to you, no specific pronouns for iruka’s love interest, very open ended</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 12:48:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28925673</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideywhiteys/pseuds/spideywhiteys</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where 20% of the population is cursed by love, Fugaku finds a teenager coughing flower petals into trembling hands in the shadows of an alley.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Uchiha Fugaku &amp; Umino Iruka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>365 Days of Naruto AUs [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Heart Sick</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day 22: Hanahaki AU / Fugaku + Iruka</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There is a child crying in the alleyway behind his house. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fugaku is the father of two, and neither are the type to cry so openly, even if sometimes he wishes they would. The child is less a child and more a teen, perhaps a few years older than Itachi. He’s so small, with brown skin and a glaring scar across his nose. Dark hair is tied back into a ponytail, and Fugaku would mistake the kid for a Nara if the facial features weren’t totally off. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The thing is, even if it’s none of his business, Fugaku is still a police officer and this is obviously someone in distress. He’s also a parent, albeit an awkward one. He’d think about it all day if he left right now, or his wife would somehow </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> and make him sleep on the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“What are you doing here?” He asks.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The teen looks up, eyes watery and bloodshot. Tears streak like starshine down ruddy cheeks, a bottom lip quivers, damp with spit and wet petals.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>Oh.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Fugaku thinks, observing the collection of bright red flowers pooling in trembling hands. He knows what this is, knows the burn and ache and strain. He spat petals from his mouth as a teenager not much older than the one before him. For him, however, that agony ceased when Mikoto returned his feelings. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>She never suffered, as most don’t. Only 20% of the population do, and it’s entirely random. No scientific evidence pointed to a hereditary inclination, which made it all the harder to pinpoint if your child might grow up cursed.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fugaku sighs.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“How far along are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The teenager clears his throat, wiping his mouth. “U-Uh, a month or so, sir.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>A month?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Fugaku sighs again. That’s quite a while. The progression is quick, usually claiming lives within three months. Most get it over with and confess once the first petals begin to fall from their lips.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The curse is not kind, but at least if their confession is accepted they become healthy within the week. If it’s not, there’s about a week to have surgery to remove the growth before death, no matter how far along you are.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fugaku can’t imagine it. Can’t imagine having to take pills to stimulate emotions after a surgery like that — for the rest of your life, unless you want to be a hollowed out shell. He’s one of the lucky ones. He knows this.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The kid coughs again, a rough, wet sound that comes from deep in his chest. Far down where the roots clutch and spread in his lungs, following every branch and blood vessel. He slaps a hand to his mouth as petals slips through the gaps in his fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Don’t be scared.” Fugaku tries, uncomfortable in any attempt at giving advice. He’s not good with that kind of thing, not good with anything that actions can’t explain. Mikoto usually acts as his translator when he can’t get his point across. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>(It happens more times than one would think.)</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“It happened to me, back when I was your age.” He continues, because the kid is looking like a stiff breeze will knock him over, hiding here in an alley and trying not to cry when the </span>
  <em>
    <span>pain</span>
  </em>
  <span> must be immense. Fugaku would know.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>The kid clears his throat in vain once more, voice hoarse, “And you…”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Fugaku shifts, mouth pursed and awkwardness in the line of his shoulders. “My feelings were reciprocated.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>This doesn’t seem to aid the weary child, so Fugaku tries to backtrack.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“What’s your name?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>A sniff. “Umino Iruka.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Iruka. Listen, it’s not the worst thing in the world if they say no. I know a woman who takes the pills. It’s nothing like those horror stories.” </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“But it’s scary.” The boy breathes out, and his entire being is trembling like a leaf. He looks at the ground like it’s personally offended him. “I don’t want them to say no.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>While Fugaku knows the feeling, he’s not great at articulating anything remotely comforting. So he grimaces, a little unintentionally, wavering in his attempt to provide advice. Or anything close to advice.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Ah, well. That’s life.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iruka laughs, perhaps a little startled at the blunt reply. “What?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“They could say no.” He agrees, nodding his head, a firm set to his jaw, “But they could also say yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iruka wipes at his nose with his sleeve and swipes tears from his dark eyes with shaking hands. He sits in a pile of flowers grown in his chest, looking so small — too small, and Fugaku wonders why such a curse exists when it can kill the innocent so casually if they aren’t careful. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“And I suppose you should hurry it up a bit. You’re already a month in and it’s only going to get worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>Iruka laughs again, a sort of wheeze that sounds wounded, but there’s a smile on his tear-flushed face. He says, “You’re not very good at comforting people, are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>And, well, there’s nothing else Fugaku can reply with other than a gruff, “No.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Follow / Support me on <a href="https://spideyfoof.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> and let me know if you'd like to see more of this AU!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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